Curt Connors (Earth-11584)
History "The scientific method is the root of all modern knowledge. Everything around us has a reason, everything has a purpose, and science is the language we use to find that purpose." '''Dr. Curt Connors '''is a former researcher and army surgeon who now works as a biology teacher at Midtown High in New York City. Native to New York himself (the son of South African immigrants), Connors had a normal childhood, graduating as valedictorian from his high school before attending the US Army Academy at West Point. Connors was commissioned an officer after four years, and quickly made a field medic based on his overall scores in scientific achievement. Connors served with UN peacekeeping forces in the Balkans, helping to protect civilians from "ethnic cleansing" in Bosnia and Serbia. It was during one of these attacks, though, that Connors was severely wounded by shrapnel from an explosive mortar shell, causing him to lose his right arm in the process and ending his career in the Army. Depressed at the loss of his surgical ability, Connors turned his sights into genetic research instead, hoping that he might be able to use his talents there. He earned his doctorate from Empire State University, writing his thesis on the regenerative capabilities on certain creatures in the animal kingdom, specifically advanced creatures such as reptiles, hoping beyond hope that it might one day be helpful in regenerating his lost limb. Settling into a job teaching high school biology (as well as teaching at a local community college on the weekend), Connors continued his research independently, applying for several grants, but mostly failing in this endeavor. When he learned of the potential of Neogenics (having studied the earlier work of Herbert Wyndham), he learned everything he could about the process and began applying this to his theories. Short of cash, he sought investment from outside entities in his work outside the scientific community, eventually finding a backer in Silvio Manfredi. At the same time, Connors met and befriended one of his students, the brilliant Peter Parker. Working with Dr. Kristin Farley, who had been behind the effort to revitalize Neogenics at Oscorp, Connors managed to build a Neogenic Recombinator to further the process of melding DNA traits together. However, his process was too slow for his benefactor, Manfredi, who was dying of cancer and sought to use Neogenics to try and cure himself. Giving Connors a 48 hour deadline, Manfredi demanded results or else. Connors worked tirelessly to perfect a formula to duplicate a reptile's ability to regenerate damaged tissue, and he used it on himself. While the formula succeeded in regrowing his limb, it also transformed him into a human-lizard hybrid. This mindless monster fled the scene of his laboratory and began rampaging around the area, only to be approached by Spider-Man. The Lizard nearly killed the wall crawler in their first encounter, but Connors' mind seemed to take some degree of control over the Lizard's actions and ended the assault. After slinking back into the sewers, Connors reverted back to his human form some time later. Over the next several months, Connors grew more and more distant from his teaching (including snapping at Peter Parker at one point, uncharacteristically) and found that at seemingly random intervals he would transform into the Lizard. The creature began to dominate more and more of his personality, while also retaining some of his intellect each time he transformed. He began gathering chemicals to reduplicate the formula that created him, while simultaneously looking for a power source to increase the transformative capabilities of the Neogenic Recombinator. Eventually he found his way to the underground power source of the Avengers Tower, which if fully tapped would allow him to duplicate the transformation on most of Manhattan. Before he could complete this though, Connors sought revenge on the crime boss Manfredi, now transformed into a cybernetic being, wanting him to witness the transformative act. Thankfully, the Lizard was stopped by Peter Parker, who altered the Recombinator to restore Connors to his human form and personality, seemingly stopping the Lizard altogether. Peter also turned Manfredi over to the police, blaming him for the outbreak and appearance of the Lizard. To date, Connors resumed his teaching duties at Midtown High, with no apparent relapse as the Lizard. Powers & Abilities * Brilliant Scientist: In his normal state, Connors is a brilliant scientist in the fields of biology, genetics and chemistry. He was able to crack the Neogenic code that Herbert Wyndham had invented in the 1990s and utilize it to the greatest extent that anyone ever had outside of Wyndham himself. * Field Surgeon: Connors served as a field medic in the Army and was capable of performing difficult surgeries in the midst of battle. One such incident led to the loss of his right arm. * Lizard Transformation: Subjecting himself to a special serum exposed to the Neogenic Recombinator, Connors sporadically transformed into a human-lizard hybrid, which granted him greatly enhanced strength, a nearly indestructible scaly hide, sharp fangs and claws, and a long tail that could be used as a whip. This also regrew his missing arm. Weaknesses As Dr. Connors, he had no special abilities to protect him from harm. He was also missing his right arm, making certain tasks difficult for him in the pursuit of science (he could not afford more than a basic prosthesis, and even then he did not use it regularly). As The Lizard, Connors' intelligence and human mind were subsumed by a bestial instinct, though the longer he spent in his lizard body, the more of his human personality he could retain over time (though still with evil intentions as the Lizard.) Film Details Curt Connors appears in the following films within the Earth-11584 continuity. In all cases he is portrayed by actor Rhys Ifans. * Iron Man 4 (2016) only * Spectacular Spider-Man (2017) Category:Earth-11584 Category:Earth-11584 Characters Category:Good Characters